FORT
LAUDERDALE, Florida -- For Doug Nussmeier, there’s always value in
looking back, evaluating, nit-picking the details, figuring out whether
the previous play has redeemable value in the short- and long-term
future.

That’s
his job as Alabama’s offensive coordinator. It’s “the process,” he
said, clearly taking a page out of his boss’ playbook as he addressed
the media Thursday -- the first such occasion since early August.

There’s
just no reason to dwell on the big, game-changing plays -- both good
and bad. Just as Nick Saban often says about Alabama’s upcoming opponent
-- whoever it may be -- every one is equal.

“We’re
always self-scouting, always evaluating,” Nussmeier said. “Any time you
make a call, you come out of a game saying, ‘God, I wish I had that
call back. I wish I could call that again.’

“The ones that work are always good ones, the ones that don’t are always bad ones.”

Alabama
will play Notre Dame in the BCS National Championship game, so it’s
safe to say there have been more good plays than bad plays for Nussmeier
and the Crimson Tide offense.

Alabama
comes into Monday’s showdown with the Fighting Irish ranked 19th in the
nation in rushing offense (224.62 yards per game) and 81st in passing
(214.46). Both figures are higher than what the Crimson Tide carried
into its BCS title games in 2009 and 2011.

The Crimson Tide’s average of 38.46 points per game is 2 points better than any previous season under Saban.

Alabama’s
done it all with an average of just 63 plays per game. Sixty-nine of
those plays have been “explosive,” meaning that they went for 20 or more
yards.

It’s
happened, Nussmeier said, through a meshing of what Alabama did so well
under former offensive coordinator Jim McElwain, what he did well
during stints at Washington and Fresno State and what he evaluated could
be done better with the current personnel.

“Coach
Nuss had a big impact on our offense,” quarterback AJ McCarron said.
“He’s brought a bunch of different plays and also a different type of
mindset to this offense than we had last year.”

McCarron has been one of the top beneficiaries.

As
he sat next to Nussmeier during Thursday’s press conference, McCarron
recalled a recent conversation with his father, who noticed that his
son’s statistics (191-286, 2,669 yards, 26 TDs, 3 INTs) were better than
last year’s in pretty much every category.

Only he’d done it by throwing 42 fewer passes.

“That
shows a big part of his coaching ability,” McCarron said. “The way he’s
helped me grow not only as a leader, but as a quarterback.”

Nussmeier
came to Alabama with a reputation as a quarterback guru, something he
deflects as a product of coaching “very, very good players” who have
also been “great people.” He coached Marc Bulger during his time with
the St. Louis Rams, Drew Stanton when he was at Michigan State and Jake
Locker at Washington.

Yet
there Nussmeier was, in the booth for Alabama’s SEC Championship
victory against Georgia, calling run play after run play after run play
during a second half that saw the Crimson Tide pile up the bulk of its
350 rushing yards.

“We
were able to create big, explosive plays in the running game and there
was not a need to do anything else at that point in time,” Nussmeier
said. “We’re going to have a balanced game plan … but as the flow of the
game goes, we’re going to aggressively try and take advantage of
whatever part of our game we think is going to be the most successful.”

Most
Alabama fans relished the sequence of running plays against Georgia,
especially after what happened during the waning moments of the Crimson
Tide’s loss to Texas A&M in November. That’s when the same Alabama
offense that was tracking its second-half rushes against Georgia by
multiples of 10 ran three pass plays with 6 yards and four downs
separating it from a go-ahead touchdown.

The series ended with a McCarron interception and, ultimately, an Alabama loss.

In
hindsight, the philosophy made sense, as Alabama came back from a
20-point deficit by riding the arm of McCarron, who threw for a
career-high 309 yards against the Aggies. Still, the calls were filed
under the “bad ones,” and Nussmeier was left with no choice but to move
on to the next challenge.

Over
the last three games, Alabama has scored 11 touchdowns from inside its
opponent’s 20-yard line. All but one have come on the ground.

It’s a recent string of “good ones” for Nussmeier in a season he said has featured plenty of “pleasant surprises.”

“Working
with the group of coaches we have on offense has been an outstanding
experience,” he said. “Working with coach Saban, the way he structures
everything, the attention to detail, you just can’t say enough about it.